Doc’s family to sit on hunger strike against Smriti from today

Mathura police back Union minister’s defence, accuse Delhi woman of causing the death of Dr Ramesh Nagar on Yamuna Expressway

Union HRD minister Smriti Irani has been accused of driving away from the scene of the March 5 accident.(Arvind Yadav/ HT file photo)

The son of a doctor, who was killed in an accident allegedly involving Union HRD minister Smriti Irani’s cavalcade on the Yamuna Expressway last week, has said that his family will sit on a hunger strike on the city collectorate’s premises from Friday to seek action against her.

The family of Dr Ramesh Nagar, the deceased, accused Irani of driving away from the scene of the March 5 accident – creating an uproar on the social media. Dr Nagar’s son, Abhishek, told Hindustan Times on Thursday that the medical professional would have survived if the minister had stopped to help him as well as his daughter Sandili (12) and nephew Pankaj (8).

Irani, however, denied that the accident was caused by a vehicle from her cavalcade.

Meanwhile, the Mathura police have accused Dimple Arora, a resident of Delhi, of causing the accident. “From the CCTV footage taken from the toll plaza, it can be seen clearly that a woman driving a Honda City was involved,” said Mathura superintendent of police (rural) Arun Kumar Singh, adding that a notice has been served to Arora.

A case was registered at Mant police station in Mathura, after which police visited the house of Dr Nagar’s family and recorded Sandili’s statement.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to Irani’s defence, asking opposition parties to desist from “playing politics” over the issue. Claiming that the accident had occurred 20 minutes before the Union minister’s cavalcade reached the spot, BJP (Agra unit) spokesperson KK Bhardwaj said, “It was Smriti who informed the SSP Mathura about the accident and asked officebearers of the BJP Yuva Morcha to accompany the injured to the hospital. She left for Delhi only after that. Despite this, the minister is being falsely implicated in the case by other political parties and its leaders.”

“The opposition parties should not play their dirty politics through members of the aggrieved family… they should stop blaming the minister for the accident,” another BJP leader said, assuring aid to the deceased’s family.